Tuesday, 7 July 2015

The Ancora Binary System and Kruenta Karoliina Arx Rotunda

Although barely a footnote on the Administratum's tithe ledgers, the Ancora Binary System is not without importance. This is due in part to its relative density of both primary extraction facilities and Imperial scholams, but more importantly its location within short passage of the Medean Warp Cluster.This makes it a valuable waypoint for travellers both within the Acheron Subsector, in which it is located, and those approaching from further afield.

The system takes its name from the three planets whose circumbinary orbit keeps them within the habitable zone of the twin suns:1) Ancora Prime is the largest planet and was probably the first to be landed, but has the most inhospitable conditions. Human life on this planet is strictly for the most tenacious.2) Ancora Diluvium is a water planet where, during the shorter, more benevolent seasons, huge Imperial rigs work quickly to harvest the plentiful depths, rushing to leave before the climate turns against them.3) Ancora Fornax,the smallest of the three, is able to support a diverse human ecology and is therefore easily the most densely populated. Many different industries and operations are in effect within its vast cities and as such it is the natural seat of Imperial governance in the region.Although much of Fornax's surface is superheated by geothermal energies and too hot to comfortably support human life (at least without atmosuits) there are several areas of raised or shielded geography where temperatures are cooler. These have come to be thought of as the planet's continents.One of the most populated continents is Natantis Maoris, a strip of land roughly 1600km at its widest point, but several tens of thousand kilometres long, running roughly East to West a few hundred clicks above the planet's equator.There are seventeen major conurbations dotted along its length, running from Rutilium in the west to Kruenta Karoliina Arx Rotunda in the east. This latter city, known most commonly as Kru, is not the largest city on the planet, but is undoubtedly its cultural hub.Unlike regular Hive Cities, Kru isn't a single towering behemoth, but a sprawling megalopolis, with several small hive spires spread out in an uneven circle over an area covering roughly forty thousand square kilometres. The land between the spires has long since filled with lower lying districts, performing all types of function, including manufacturing, residential, recreation, off-world transport hubs, and even some green space where organic foodstuffs are grown. Many of these districts have suffered cataclysmic weathering over the millennia, and have collapsed and been abandoned, while others may have recently been repaired or rebuilt to look gleaming and new.Seasons are short, quick and irregular on Ancora Fornax, and these changeable weather conditions, combined with naturally occurring atmospheric impurities, and the oft harsh glare of the twin suns, mean that great swathes of the planet are regularly bathed in a rich, red glow - a phenomenon only exacerbated by the presence of large mining operations and their attendant pollution. Although the striking colour isn't permanent - it waxes and wanes with climatic conditions - it has nevertheless embedded itself in the psyches of the local inhabitants, and indeed those of travellers from further afield. Red folk, blood gangs, crimson shipping routes, blush wagers, and a myriad other names, terms and colloquialisms can be found throughout the subsector.

Kru has been described as beautiful, usually by people who haven't had to stay very long